Soft building block assembly

ABSTRACT

A soft building block assembly includes at least one soft building block element formed by soft material and having at least one buckling portion; by stacking of the soft building block element elements, various kinds of toys being formed; a Shore value of the material of the soft building block element is between 20 to 95. Material of the soft building block element is selected from one of PE(Thermal Plastic Elastomer), TPR(Thermal Plastic Rubber), TPU(Thermal PU, PU(Polyurethane) or thermal static material, such as silica rubber. the soft building block element has at least one of a buckling portion and a coupling portion, and the buckling portion of a soft building block element is buckled to the coupling portion of another soft building block element.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to building blocks, and in particularto a soft building block assembly for assembling toys.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Building blocks are popular and widely accepted by children throughseveral hundred years, which can be assembled to form various kinds oftoys. In 1960s, LEGO building block has been developed, which are formedmainly by a plurality of basic elements. Each basic element has buckles.By buckling these elements together, various different kinds of toys canbe formed, while the conventional building blocks cannot be buckledtogether so that they are loose in structure and thus are easily bedetached. Furthermore, conventional building blocks cannot formcomplicated structure, such as a standing robot.

However, conventional LEGO building blocks are formed by hard materialwhich may be harmful to children. Furthermore, the feeling of thequality of the toy formed by LEGO building blocks is fixed.

Therefore, the inventor of the present invention is eager to design anew kind of building blocks which can improve the prior art defects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a softbuilding block assembly, wherein the soft building block element of theassembly can be combined with conventional hard building blocks so thatthe toys so formed have soft corners and edges and thus the toys aresafe. Furthermore, the toys formed from the present invention havedifferent quality from those formed by the conventional hard buildingblocks, for example, qualities about light reflections and hues.

To achieve about object, the present invention provides a soft buildingblock assembly comprising at least one soft building block elementformed by soft material and having at least one buckling portion; bystacking of the soft building block element elements, various kinds oftoys being formed; a Shore value of the material of the soft buildingblock element is between 20 to 95. Material of the soft building blockelement is selected from one of PE(Thermal Plastic Elastomer),TPR(Thermal Plastic Rubber), TPU(Thermal PU, PU(Polyurethane) or thermalstatic material, such as silica rubber. the soft building block elementhas at least one of a buckling portion and a coupling portion, and thebuckling portion of a soft building block element is buckled to thecoupling portion of another soft building block element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows one application of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment about the buckling portion and couplingportion of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment about the buckling portion andcoupling portion of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a yet embodiment about the buckling portion and couplingportion of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is another embodiment about the soft building block element ofthe present invention.

FIG. 9 shows one use of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 shows another use of FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 shows a stacking of building blocks.

FIG. 12 shows that the soft building block element elements in FIG. 10serves to fill the stacking structure in FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 shows the stacking of conventional building blocks.

FIG. 14 shows another embodiment of the soft building block elementaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 15 shows the turning of the soft building block element accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 16 shows another embodiment about the soft building block elementof the present invention.

FIG. 17 shows the turning operation of the soft building block elementshown in FIG. 16.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In order that those skilled in the art can further understand thepresent invention, a description will be provided in the following indetails. However, these descriptions and the appended drawings are onlyused to cause those skilled in the art to understand the objects,features, and characteristics of the present invention, but not to beused to confine the scope and spirit of the present invention defined inthe appended claims.

At least one soft building block element 10 is formed by soft materialand has at least one buckling portion. By stacking of the soft buildingblock element elements 10, various kinds of toys are formed. The Shorevalue of the material of the soft building block element 10 is between20 to 95, the material suitable may be selected from PE(Thermal PlasticElastomer), TPR(Thermal Plastic Rubber), TPU(Thermal PU),PU(Polyurethane), or thermal static material, such as silica rubber,which does not deformed under 200 degree C.

The soft building block element 10 is integrally formed and is formed bythe same material. Preferably, the size of the soft building blockelement 10 is smaller than 2 centimeters.

Thereby, toys formed by the soft building block element elements 10 aresoft, collision-proof, and firm. The edge of the toys will not harm theusers or cause the user feel ache. The toys are safe.

The soft building block element 10 has at least one buckling portion 20and at least one coupling portion 30. The buckling portion 20 isengageable with the coupling portion 30 so as to combine two softbuilding block element elements 10 together.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the structure of the soft building blockelement 10 of the present invention is illustrated. The soft buildingblock element 10 has a rectangular structure. A buckling portion 20 isat an upper surface of the soft building block element. The bucklingportion 20 has a round shape (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The soft buildingblock element 10 has a hollow inner space. A coupling portion 30 isformed at a wall of the inner space. The coupling portion 30 has a tubelike structure for buckling the buckling portion 20. By the coupling ofthe buckling portions 20 and the coupling portions 30, a plurality ofsoft building block element elements 10 can be combined as a wholestructure, such as a toy.

In the present invention, a soft building block element 10 may haveplural buckling portions 20 and coupling portions 30, as illustrated inFIG. 1, in that four buckling portions 20 are illustrated.

In the present invention, the buckling portion 20 and the couplingportion 30 may be a concave and a convex portion, a sliding track and abuckling portion, hair like structures, etc.

With reference to FIG. 5, it is illustrated that the buckling portion 20is a protrusion and the coupling portion 30 is a track which is suitablefor the protrusion. Thereby, by this structure, one soft building blockelement 10 and another soft building block element 10 may be coupled atdifferent position.

Referring to FIG. 6, another embodiment of the present invention isillustrated, in that the structure of this embodiment is identical tothose illustrated in above, while only the buckling portion 20 and thecoupling portion 30 are formed from different surface of the softbuilding block element 10.

With reference to FIG. 7, another embodiment about the soft buildingblock element 10 of the present invention is illustrated. In thisembodiment, the buckling portion 20 and the coupling portion 30 areformed as hair like structure, as a Velcro so that two different softbuilding block element elements 10 can be assembled at any positions.Furthermore, operations of combining two soft building block elementelements 10 are easy and quick by contacting the two at any positions.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment about the soft building block element 10of the present invention. In this the present invention, the bucklingand coupling portions are neglected from the drawings, however readerscan easily understand that the buckling and coupling portions are formedon the soft building block element. In this embodiment, the softbuilding block element 10 are formed by two main components 101, 102 anda plate-like connecting portions 103 serves to connect the two mainportions 101, 102. The main portions and connecting portion are formedintegrally. Since the soft building block element 10 is soft, by bendingthe soft building block element 10 and thus combined the two mainportions by buckling and coupling portions, it can be formed withvarious different shapes.

An application of this embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 11, in that atriangular structure is desired, while the structure 200 shown in FIG.11 is not provided by the soft building block element 10. However, bybending the soft building block element 10 illustrated in FIG. 10, wecan get the building block 200 as desired so as to form the shapeillustrated in FIG. 12. However, in conventional usage, the buildingblocks can only form the structure shown in FIG. 13, while the portions200 shown in FIG. 12 are not filled in FIG. 13.

With reference to FIGS. 14, and 15, another embodiment of the softbuilding block element 10 of the present invention is illustrated, inthat the buckling portion 20 and the coupling portion 30 are neglected.In this embodiment, the inner side and outer side of the soft buildingblock element 10 are coated with different colors, textures, or lines sothat as we turn the inner side of the soft building block element 10 toouter side, it is shown that the soft building block element 10 hasdifferent colors, textures, or lines. This is because the soft buildingblock element 10 is soft so that it can be turned inside out.

With reference to FIGS. 16 and 17, another embodiment about the softbuilding block element 10 of the present invention is illustrated. Atthis embodiment, the buckling portion 20 and coupling portion 30 areneglected. In this embodiment, the inner side of the soft building blockelement 10 is formed with a shape not corresponding to that in the outerside of the soft building block element 10, so that when the softbuilding block element 10 is turned inner side out, the soft buildingblock element 10 will present a very different shape. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 17, it is shown that a ball is formed in the inner side ofthe soft building block element 10.

In the present invention, the inner side of the soft building blockelement 10 is hollowed so that the whole structure uses less material.

In the present invention, the soft building block element 10 is elasticso that it can be form with some application which is soft, for example,it is assembled as a ball. Because the ball so formed is elastic andthus it can be beaten out.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the soft building block element10 can be combined with conventional hard building blocks so that thetoys so formed have soft corners and edges and thus the toys are safe.Furthermore, the toys formed from the present invention have differentquality from those formed by the conventional hard building blocks, forexample, qualities about light reflections and hues.

Advantages of the present invention are that the toys of the presentinvention are soft and thus are collision-proof and not easy to crack.Moreover, the edges or corners of the toys formed by the presentinvention are soft and not harmful to children. Furthermore, the softbuilding block element of the present invention can be turned inside outso as to present various outlooks, such as colors, textures and lines.

The present invention is thus described, it will be obvious that thesame may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regardedas a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention, andall such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art areintended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

1. A soft building block assembly, comprising: at least one softbuilding block element formed by soft material and having at least onebuckling portion; by stacking of the soft building block elements,various kinds of toys being formed; a Shore value of the material of thesoft building block element is between 20 to 95; wherein the thermalstatic material is silica rubber; and wherein the soft building blockelement has at least one of a buckling portion and a coupling portion,and the buckling portion of a soft building block element is buckled tothe coupling portion of another soft building block element. 2-4.(canceled)
 5. The soft building block assembly as claimed in claim 1,wherein the soft building block element is formed integrally and isformed by one kind of material.
 6. (canceled)
 7. The soft building blockassembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the buckling portion and thecoupling portion is selected from one of a concave and a convex portion,a sliding track and a buckling portion.
 8. The soft building blockassembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the soft building block elementis formed by two main portions which are connected by a thinner plateportion; the main portions and the thinner portion are formedintegrally.
 9. The soft building block assembly as claimed in claim 1,wherein an inner side and an outer side of the soft building blockelement are coated with different colors.
 10. The soft building blockassembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein an inner side and an outer sideof the soft building block element are coated with different textures.11. The soft building block assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein aninner side and an outer side of the soft building block element arecoated with different lines.
 12. The soft building block assembly asclaimed in claim 1, wherein an inner side of the soft building blockelement is formed with a shape not corresponding to that in the outerside of the soft building block element, so that when the soft buildingblock element is turned inner side out, the soft building block elementwill present a different shape.
 13. The soft building block assembly asclaimed in claim 1, wherein a size of the soft building block element isnot larger than two centimeters.
 14. The soft building block assembly asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the soft building block element is combinedwith a hard building block so that the toys so formed have soft cornersand edges and thus the toys are safe.